[The myth of the saint of the sword].

Abstract

The authors delve into an Argentine enigma: The character of Gen. José de San Martin--a historical figure that has been sacralized as Father of the Homeland, and hailed by historians as a saint with a sword. A short biographical sketch is offered prior to an analysis of Gen. San Martin's psychological traits coupled to his work with masonic lodges that allowed him to display his abilities as strategist and political ruler. The mystery of his giving up his military and political tasks after his meeting with Simon Bolivar in Guayaquil can be compared to an epilogue to the "destiny" of a paradigmatic hero. Such a paradigm unites Gen. San Martin's own traits on the one hand, and a longing for a powerful fatherly image among Latin American communities, on the other hand. San Martin was no saint, no prophet, and no "shrewd half-breed" whose ultimate ambitions fell apart: Instead, he was a stoic revolutionary very much "de son temps"--however, his fellow countrymen simply cannot accept or admit that he was no worshipper or that his were very human qualities, and defects.